Household Air Pollution from Burning Biomass for Cooking and Heating – A Review of Health Hazards and Intervention Programs

Abstract

Biomass has been used as a fuel source for cooking and heating for centuries. Despite the emergence of new, efficient, and clean technologies for cooking and heating, biomass is still the primary source of fuel for poor and rural communities in several low and middle income countries around the world. This review presents the chemical composition, the health effects, and the key factors that would enhance the exposure to the emissions of high concentrations of particulate matter, inorganic, and organic chemical compounds from the use of biomass for cooking and heating. It also reviews a number of intervention programs that have been implemented by governments, non-governmental organizations, and other philanthropic societies, to mitigate the possible health risks due to biomass burning. Such programs include distribution of new cook stoves, more efficient cook stoves, cook stoves with chimneys, distribution of cleaner fuel such as LPG, and electrification, among others. This paper is a narrative literature review with some critical aspects that highlights the updated works published in the past 15 years which are related to the health hazards and intervention programs to mitigate the adverse impact of biomass burning in household environment. It was found that, despite the several efforts and initiatives taken to mitigate biomass environmental pollution, not all programs have met the desired expectations for the reduction in residents' exposure to biomass burning within the World Health Organization (WHO)'s limits. Much more work is required to be done collectively around the globe to improve the efficiency of sustained adoption of such new interventions by the poor and rural communities.

Environmental Chemical Contaminants in Food: Review of a Global Problem

“…Contamination of foods with PAHs from cooking can be greatly reduced by avoiding smoking or open fires but rather replacing them with gas stoves for cooking [77]. Several nongovernmental organizations and charities offer gas stoves to families to help alleviate this source of food contamination, which is a risk particularly for women and children who spend more time at home [173].…”

Seasonal variations of indoor aerosols (PM2.5) in urban households of Jammu (J&K), India

“…was responsible for numerous respiratory health syndromes -particularly in women and children who used to spend the most time at home cooking, as reported byRoshan and Isaifan (2018) while reviewing health hazards of air pollution from burning biomass for cooking and heating in Asia and Africa and Paulsen et al from electric stoves and these were observed to be 11, 2.8, 1.7 and 1.3 times higher as compared with Nepal's national 24-h indoor air quality standard for PM 2.5 (60 mg/m3). Compilation of data of indoor PM 2.5 of households with wood fuel burning practice and households with nonwood fuel burning practice exhibited significantly (p<0.05) highest value (115.4µg/m 3 ) of indoor PM 2.5 during summer seasons followed by winter season (103.1 µg/m 3 ) and lowest during rainy seasons (95.5 µg/m 3 ) of two year study period with overall average indoor PM 2.5 value of 104.68±44..33 µg/m 3 (Table4) thereby exposing the residents to diseases of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems due to long-term exposure to PM 2.5 pollution.…”